


The Admirer

by orphan_account



Category: Wander Over Yonder
Genre: Its gay hope u like it losers, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-24 11:51:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6152806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hater finally got hit with the Rejection Blues, but a Secret admirer is sending him gifts and surprises.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It had been months since he last saw her. Hater had done everything in his power to avoid her, often forfeiting entire solar systems to stay out of her way. 

She hated him. She thought he was a joke, a weak, pathetic joke. Did everyone see him like that? Is that how he was? 

Hater pulled the blankets over his head and gritted his teeth. Everything felt distant, dreamlike. This couldn't be real, right? He had seen it with his own eyes, Dominator had captured all of the major and most of the minor villains. 

Soon he would be the only one left, and then not even that, and she was growing more powerful with each passing second.

How do you go up against someone like that? Is there any hope to defeat someone of that caliber of power?

The hollow feeling increased tenfold. It was feeling more and more like he was dreaming with every thought. He had felt better after Peepers had talked to him about it, like he had been cured of an illness he hadn't realized he had. Now it was just a dull, empty feeling where his blind infatuation used to be. How do you get over someone you never dated in the first place? 

He can't cut her out of any pictures, because he didn't have any pictures. It's not like he could hide from the destruction that sat just outside his windows.

He leaned over, watching the massive amounts of space debris pass by. Crushed comets, pulverized planets, and mashed up moons drifted through the void of space with no sign of stopping. What did she hope to gain by hurting so many people?

'You're starting to sound like Wander,' said a voice in his head. He groaned and rolled over, mumbling for it to shut up.

He hadn't seen Wander in that time either. All in all, he had hardly left his bedroom. Peepers brought him food whenever he asked, and that was it. He was alone with his thoughts. 

Those thoughts were seeming less like his own the more they replayed in his head.

'She's right, isn't she? You're worthless. A terrible villain.'

Hater sighed, burying his face in the pillows. Against the constant onslaught of intrusive thoughts, he felt defenseless and broken. 

He felt the urge to distract himself from the problem. Video games? No, the cord had broken in an..... accident. 

He wasn't desperate enough yet to call Peepers, or Grop forbid Wander. 

'Maybe', he thought, 'a change of scenery will help!' See if some food and seeing the weird shenanigans of the Watchdogs would  clear his mind, yeah, that might work!

He pulled himself out from the covers and stretched, wincing at the loud cracking from his back. He took a blanket and draped it over his body. 

It wasn't a long walk to the food court from his room, and it would be one of the next places for someone to look for him after his room, but he texted Peepers that he was going there anyway. That little guy had a lot of stress inside of him, and it's always a mess when he shows too much at one time. 

He was only halfway there and he could already hear the buzz of conversation. He checked the timetable hung up on the wall, and sure enough it was lunch break for Watchdog Squad C4. They weren't frontline soldiers, mostly just there if the others got into trouble, so they had an hour to eat. 

Hater peeked around the corner into the dining hall and sighed again, stepping into the huge room and walking towards the pizza line. The cafeteria fell silent as he stepped through the crowd. There were hushed murmurs.

A small Watchdog was shoved in front of Hater, who slowly stopped. 

"Uhm," the watchdog whispered, shaking slightly. "C-could I have your autograph?" He said, holding out a paper and pen.

Hater felt a spark of some sort of emotion deep inside him. What was it? Happiness? Validation?

He nodded, scribbling his name on the paper. The little guy was Starry eyed and practically bouncing with excitement as he ran off to show the others. Hater sighed again. 

Maybe, just maybe, he would start eating lunch here more.


	2. Chapter 2

After a quick lunch with only a few words spoken, he went back to his room and collapsed into his mattress with social exhaustion. He hadn't hardly spoken a word to anyone in that amount of time, but just being near people proved a tedious task. 

There was something next to his bet. It was small, and out of place among the reds, greens, yellows, and blacks of his room.

It was white and pink, with hearts on the side. 

Hearts?

Who would send him something with hearts on it?

He slowly reached for it, sitting up in bed and running his fingers across the soft ribbon tied atop the small box.

Why?

He checked it for a tag, finding one under the bow. The only thing written was a "From Your Secret Admirer!" And a metallic golden heart emblazoned on the back.

Hater felt his heart skip a beat. Secret admirer? Who could that be? Who cared enough to admire him in secret?

'It could be a trap!' The Peepers voice in him said. He nodded, frowning stiffly. 

He carefully opened the box away from his face, holding it as far away as he could. No boom, no jumping out, no emitting toxic gas, nothing. Just the soft sound of cardboard sliding against more cardboard. He sighed in relief.

He lifted the rest of the lid off and looked warily into the container, unsure of exactly what to expect. 

His heart swelled at the contents, taking everything out to examine. 

Gourmet chocolate covered cherries, a new pair of headphones, AND a new cord for his game remote?! Who could have known he needed those things?! There were tiny golden hearts stamped on each of the gifts. 

Hater opened the cherry box, popping one into his mouth gleefully. 

Hater sighed again, but this time in contentment. "This," he smiled, laying into his pillow and popping another cherry into his mouth, "Is exactly what I needed right now."

He drifted off to sleep peacefully for the first time in weeks. 

He hoped whoever was admiring him was cute.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who is them??? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YQpLNCRIxWA

Wander scanned the shelves of the convenient store for something Hater might like, or something from his list of presents he intended to get. 

1\. Nacho Cheese Chips, Thunderblazz, and other assorted snacks.   
2\. New sneakers (higher quality)  
3\. Battle Star Fight Time Galactic 4™  
4\. A custom mixtape  
5\. A cake!

He found the cake mix and nacho cheese chips pretty easily, and the mixtape was already made. His old friend was getting a hold of the game, two weeks before it came out, mind you, and the sneakers were in the mail. Everything was set up and his plan was already working so perfectly! Just a few more things to buy, and then the next box would be finished. 

Wander thanked his lucky stars that all of the Valentine's day candies were on sale. He bought all of it, and a small, white stuffed bear. 

Next was a short stop at the fabric store, then he'd be good to go!

////////

Hater was finally able to play video games again! He had been so distracted with...... she-whos-name-wont-be-spoken, that he hadn't bothered to fix the cord! Since his Secret admirer had gotten a new one for him, he didn't even need to bother with it!

Secret Admirer....

Who could it be? 

The question bounced around in his brain like a bee, slamming into things and making a mess. Did bees do that? Hater thought about it, and whenever a bee was present there was almost always a mess and things being knocked over. He came to the conclusion that yes, bees did do that. 

Hater checked the clock. It turns out, he had been playing for 21 consecutive hours. 

He groaned, guessing it would be a good idea to get some sleep since he needed to focus on being able figure out how to kick Dominators butt.

His dreams were haunted by a beautiful girl offering him poisoned fruits and a mysterious figure feeding him the antidote from a vile with a golden heart on it. The fruit tasted good, but the antidote was so sweet it shocked him awake with a sour taste in his mouth.

He stretched out and rolled over. His hand brushed against something sharp and hard, and he froze, lifting his head 

Another box, this one with a small stuffed bear sitting on top of it. The bear had a cloak on. And tiny lightening horns. 

Hater covered his mouth with one of his hands, reaching out to touch it with the other. 

He poked its tiny nose and it fell over. 

"Thats me," he said out loud, holding his cheek in shock. Someone had actually gone through the time to make a tiny cloak for a stuffed bear to look like him. Someone he didn't know. 

He picked up the bear and noticed a tag on it. 

Of course, on one side there was the golden heart. On the other, there was a caption. 

'I you bear-y much'

Hater coughed loudly and aggressively. Whoever this person was, they were a dork.

He turned his attention back to the box, rushing to open it. There was a bag of chips on the top, which was another thing he had wanted. 

He pulled it out and set it on the bed. Underneath there was another box. He took it out and opened it, gasping at the gift. 

It was a pair of shoes. Ridiculously expensive, custom made, name brand shoes with his logo and favorite colors on them, in his size and favorite style. The laces were curly, so you only had to cross them over eachother to tie them. 

He kicked off his old shoes and put the new ones on in their place. They had memory foam in them, too?! How much did his Secret Admirer spend?!

The only thing that stood out was a tag on the right laces. 

The heart on one side, and a message on the other. 'Hope you like them!'

That's it?! Hater groaned. He knew he should feel grateful, but with each gift the identity of this mysterious gutter felt more and more confusing. Maybe it was some girl he hadn't met before who had admired him from afar?

He smirked at the thought of a cute shy girl pining for him from a distance. Shy wasn't really his type, but it could be worked with. He liked the strong willed, persistent, wild at heart type. But feeding into his ego also worked. 

He decided to ask Peepers for some help on discovering the mysterious admirers identity.

He started heading towards the main control deck, noticing immediately how comfortable the shoes were. He hadn't taken 10 steps in them and it felt like he had worn them for years! He held his back straighter when he walked, took longer strides, and got there in about half the normal time without running at all. 'What,' Hater thought, 'Are these things magic or what?!'

Peepers was taking damage reports from all the remaining planets they had control over that still had life on them. Dominator had shot them to the top of the villain leader board in almost no time at all, but it wasn't for a good reason in the least bit. The entire ship was stung with a feeling of hollow victory. 

Hater walked into the room looking the way a Lord should, and Peepers noticed almost immediately, looking up and back down to the reports.

"Well, someone's looking better." The watchdog chided. "

"Peepers, I've got something important to tell you. Meet me in my room in 10. If I'm not there yet just... wait for me." Hater mumbled. Peepers nodded, barely looking back up from his work. 

"I'll be there."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I also ship black eye lowkey

Peepers took a long gulp of coffee. He had hardly slept in the last few days and it was giving him a horrible migraine. Caffeine was about all that was keeping him on his feet.

He had finally finished writing the reports, and was now just trying to stay awake so that he didn't lose track of time

Of course, he had to see Hater. The poor guy had been a disaster for months after Dominator had left him in the dirt. It was really messing with Peepers, not having someone to brighten things up a bit like a giant electric candle. 

Or a flashlight, that also worked.

He groaned and spun around in his chair. Only 2 more minutes till it was time to check on Hater, might as well bide his time.

The room became a blur of colors as he spun around and around. 

Red, black, yellow, green.   
Red, black, yellow, green.   
Red, black, yellow, green.   
Red, black, pink.... blue?

Peepers stopped, vision tilting and swerving with dizziness. He stood up, then huffed as the ground swung up to meet his face. 

"Ow," He groaned, sitting up on his knees and blinking. Once his vision cleared he looked to the door to see nothing out of the ordinary. 

He muttered a confused sound, then sat back down and turned back to the computer.

At least, what he expected to be the computer. 

There was a midsized box on the table, with silver wrapping paper and a bouncy golden bow on top. Peepers seized up, already wary of the mysterious object. 

The last time there were random gifts popping up, things got out of hand pretty fast. He decided to take it to Hater to open it together, just in case. 

The commander stowed the container under one arm and headed towards Hater's room.

He knocked, and waited. 

He counted to ten. No answer. 

He knocked again, just to be sure. He counted to ten. Still, no response. 

He sighed and leaned against the hallway wall. There was no telling how long Hater would take. He turned the box over and over in his hands, listening to the contents shift around slightly inside. There were a few soft sounds, and one quiet click of metal against metal. It might be a bomb, the rational part of his brain screamed. 

A tag slid from under the bow. Dark grey paper with sparkly golden lettering that read 'You're Not The Worst'. Gee, that's nice. He flipped the card over. There was a single gold spade printed on it, like a deck of cards.

Peepers narrowed his eye and hummed. What could be inside?

He felt his on-ship communicator buzz in his pocket. He picked it up and read the message. 

(23:17)H8R: wat kind of coffee for u? On me 

Peepers felt a small burst of thankfulness in his chest, and a pang of caffeine overdose caused pain in his stomach. He texted back.

(23:18)CPEEPS: I have some already, so it's alright. Thanks for the offer, though. I'm waiting outside.

(23:18)H8R: k. on my way from food court.

Peepers shut it off and put it in his pocket again. He shuddered as the ship's AC turned on again. It never stayed the way it was supposed to for more than an hour and it was a nightmare. He really got why Hater wore the cloak all the time.

"Hey, Peeps."

Speak of the devil and see death appear. 

"Good morning, sir." Peepers saluted, jumping to his feet. Hater unlocked the massive doors and walked in, motioning for Peepers to follow.

The doors shut with a solid thump, sending a small spike of panic through Peepers. Hater's room seemed bigger every time he saw it. 

It also felt messier every time. 

The commander went along, picking up random trash and clothes and tossing them in the garbage and laundry chutes respectively. 

"You don't have to clean up every time you're here, you know. 'M not want baby."

Peepers sighed. "Someone's gotta do it, sir."

"Literally no one's gotta do it."

He shrugged and followed Hater to the edge of his massive waterbed. Blankets and pillows were all piled up towards the head of the bed like a big nest. There was an out of place color there, though. Bright white and pink strewn amongst the black and red. 

"What's that up there?"

Hater pouted. "That's what I'd like to know."

Hater explained the situation with the gifts. Peepers grew more and more perplexed with every sentence. 

"You mean like this?" Peepers said, pulling the silver box from behind his back. Hater gasped and took it from his hands, leaving Peepers mildly disappointed.  

The skeleton ripped the wrapping off and took out the contents. "Hey, these won't fit me!" He shouted, tossing the three things at Peepers. The watchdog only caught the largest of the three. He took the bundle of fabric in his hands and held it to his chest. 

It was a sweater. An incredibly soft handmade black sweater with faux fur trim that was just his size. There was even a red lightning bolt on the chest. He looked at the other two things from the box.

A pair of black knee high boots with red soles and two small metal lightning bolt charms on each ankle. 

"Oh, my stars, they're perfect!" Peepers exclaimed, putting the outfit on. "This is exactly what I needed!"

Hater looked up from his lap with wide eyes. "That's it!"

Peepers stopped admiring the new clothes. "What do you mean?"

Hater jumped up and paced back in forth in front of Peepers. "Who do we know who gives people presents, and has a magic hat that always knows what you need?"

Peepers thought for a moment. Oh. OH. 

"But wait, the tag on my present was different. I think Wander would come up with a more.... sappy compliment than 'You're not the worst'."

Hater sat himself back down. "Humph."

The two just sat in silence for a bit, thinking to themselves. 

"Maybe Sylvia sent it," Hater suggested.

"NO!" Peepers shouted, standing up defensively. 

"Geez, you don't need to get all defensive abo-"

"I'M NOT GETTING DEFENSIVE!" Peepers stuck his knees into his sweater and stuck his arms into the pocket in the front. His hands brushed against against something cold and metallic. 

He pulled it out of the pocket and stared at it.

It was a pair of brass knuckles. 

Peepers groaned. "You're right, sir."

"I know."


	5. Chapter 5

The two talked for a few hours. It was calm, monotonous conversation, and Hater felt that void of isolation finally start to wear thin again. He and Peepers played a few rounds of video games together, Hater 'letting' him win. They talked about now within another few days they'd be far enough away from Dominator to start conquering planets again. 

Once it was all said and done, they just sat around eating chips and blinking in silence. Hater felt a lot more content than he had in a while. There was only one thing left to talk about. 

"Hey, Peepers."

"Huh?"

"Can I have some.... constructive criticism on this song I've been working on?"

Peepers shut his eye and mumbled, "Yeah, of course."

Hater nodded and stood up, scanning the wall for a guitar he wanted to use. He decided to use his favorite one, a basic silver electric with neon green strings. 

He hooked it up to an amp and turned the volume down to where it was audible, but not jarring. He strummed it to make sure it was in tune, flinching at the distortion. Peepers shifted a bit as he flicked the switch back to clean audio. 

Hater was never much for soft music. He liked loud, bass heavy rock music that made you wanna fight someone. This was the opposite, quiet and oddly cold.

"Build me up and break me apart..  
Like walls around my heart.  
Stone cold and broken down  
It's getting quiet in my old hometown."

Peepers sat up and looked to his boss in almost awestruck wonder. That was unexpected. 

Hater frowned. He yanked the cord out of the guitar with conviction and tossed it on the ground with the guitar itself. 

"Sir... that was really good," Peepers said quietly.

Hater scoffed. "It was dumb and I probably shouldn't have written it."

Peepers shuffled over to him. "Seriously, it wasn't that bad! Don't discre-" 

He was cut off by a loud beeping from his pocket. He pulled out his phone and gasped quietly. Hater looked at him, brows drawn together in confusion. 

"Wander and Sylvia have been captured again and are being held in the prison, sector C-9. If we want to see them we have to hurry before they escape! Let's go!" Peepers shouted, jumping to his feet and dragging at Haters hand. 

Hater hesitantly got to his feet and followed his friend (friend?) down the complicated corridors of the ship. How Peepers had a mental image of the entire ship was beyond him; he got lost just going to the bathroom once, but Peepers knew every twist and turn like the back of his hand

It only took then about a minute to get down the five levels of stairs, too. How many shortcuts had they taken? Hater was almost positive that they had been to parts of the ship he didn't know existed in those short few seconds. 

"Alright," Peepers said, "We're here. They're just behind those doors."

"Got it. Let's do this. I'm ready for this. Let's go."

Peepers prepared himself for the worst. Hater prepared himself for anything.


	6. Chapter 6

It had only been a few minutes since they hitched a ride in Haters ship. It was an easy way to get from place to place but still relax without paying for a ticket. Not to mention Wander had the chance to leave out the next present.

Sylvia was fast asleep and Wander was messing around on his banjo, drifting out himself. 

Neither of them expected to be awoken rather rudely by the owners of the ship.

Wander yawned and stretched, blinking in the rim red light. "G'morning Hatey! 'S been a li'l while, hmm?" He smiled drowzily and adjusted his hat, which was falling over his eyes as if it, too, was still sleepy.

"SHUT UP!" Hater shouted, mostly trying to cover up any trace of uncertainty he might still have. 

Wander jumped slightly, covering Sylvia's ears defensively. "Shhh! You'll wake her up!"

The zbornak shifted and groaned. "I've been awake since they walked in, buddy," Sylvia muttered. She stretched out and looked at Peepers.

Wander didn't see what happened next but Peepers made an irritated noise, glancing from her to the sweater he was wearing. He stomped on the ground, clenching his fists, and stormed out of the room in a huff. 

Wander let his eyes follow Peepers until he slammed the door shut. Then he glanced back to Hater, who looked like his vacation had just been cancelled. He was tapping his foot like he was waiting for something. 

Wander looked around, getting kind of nervous with all of the awkward silence. He strummed his banjo one string at a time and tuned it up to fill the void in the room that seemed to swallow up everything. 

Peepers stormed back in and slammed the door shut again. Wander realized he had changed clothes. Wander realized that before he left, he was wearing the outfit Syl had made, good for him! Is that what he was embarrassed about? Now he was in his normal clothes, save for the shoes.

Wander pushed the thought out of his head to make way for more questions. Did Hater like the gift? Was he wearing the shoes Wander had bought for him? Is that why they were here?

Wander stopped playing, cancelling the white noise that had filled the air. He sat in the cutting silence for a second or two l, and then he spoke. 

"Are yo-"

"DONT! Say.... a word...." Hater interrupted, still not looking at Wander's face. Wander looked at his banjo and smiled, playing quietly. Hater groaned. "Why are you sending me.... these..... THINGS?"

The nomad smiled and pointed to his lips. Hater groaned.

"NOW you can talk! TELL ME WHY YOU KEEP SENDING ME THESE STUPID.... THINGS.....!" Hater snapped. Wander blinked slowly and deliberately. 

"Gifts, Hatey," Wander said, not looking up from his banjo. He strummed the strings gently, a serene smile on his face. "A gift is something you give someone you care about."

"I KNOW WHAT A GIFT IS!!" Hater bellowed. He sighed again. "What I need to know is WHY."

"Well, I gave you your gifts for three reasons. One, because you deserve them!" Wander winked.

Hater groaned. Internally, he had to agree. He did deserve a gift every now and then.

"Two," Wander said, undeterred, "Because you needed to get motivated to do something other than mope about!"

"What?! I don't 'mope about'!"

Peepers made a sound that sounded like "Well...."

Hater shoved the Watchdog in annoyance, shooting an icy glare at him. Peepers backed up defensively.

"And the third thing is top secret!" Wander said, crossing his arms and sticking his tongue out like a child. He winked. Hater groaned angrily, which then evolved into incoherent yelling and stomping like a kindergartener.

"Pipe down! 'M trying to sleep...." Sylvia muttered. 

Hater scoffed. She's sitting here in his prison, and she's worried about SLEEPING?! Hater was on his last nerve. He was gonna tell her to get off his ship and take her.... dumb friend with her....! 

That's when he heard the soft growling of somebody's stomach.

"Oh, silly me! I forgot to eat today! It's alright, I suppose."

Hater felt his jaw drop. "How can someone just... forget to eat?!"

"Well you get so busy it's hard to keep track of when you can eat and I suppose it just slipped my mind!" Wander shrugged, twirling a patch of fur between his thumb and finger. "I'm really not even that hungry, it's all fine and dandy!"

Hater decided to make THAT the final straw, picking the nomad up by his waist and holding him like a crayon in one fist. He stormed out of the room and in an unknown direction. Sylvia was out like a lightbulb so she didn't even notice. 

Peepers and her were alone. It was warm in this part of the ship. Peepers felt the three days of no sleep hit him in the face like a pillowcase full of bricks. He found the first soft spot and fell asleep there, nuzzling into the surface which was entirely more comfortable than his mattress. It was softer, warmer..... He hit the final wall and passed out, a relaxed sigh tumbling from his chest. 

This was what he needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ship peepers x sleep
> 
> And peepers x sylvia


End file.
